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Is it worth $10? No
One thing I have come to realize over my many years of watching movies is that invasion flicks are hard to pull off. That was the mindset I had going into “The Darkest Hour,” and I had hope the Russian setting, the invisible aliens, and a pretty strong leading man would make this a film like no other. Alas, I was wrong. When I think about this movie in retrospect the only word that comes to mind is “Craptacular.” I also thought of saying: “This was indeed cinema’s ‘Darkest Hour,’” but that’s a little corny.
The story follows two long time friends who take a business trip to Moscow only to fall victim to an alien invasion. The cast includes Emile Hirsch (“Alpha Dog”) and the gorgeous Rachael Taylor (“Transformers”), and had potential to be more than just a sci-fi original. Up until now the most disappointed I had ever been in an alien invasion flick was “Skyline” (the only time I was so disappointed I got my money back), but this film is definitely just as bad. Emile Hirsch phoned in his performance, almost as if he hadn’t worked with the amazing Sean Penn on “Into the Wild,” and acts as if he didn’t even want to be part of this project. My guess is he knew how bad it would be from the get go. Ms. Taylor provided the looks and sexy accent that I can appreciate, but was just a useless and annoying character. All the rest of the supporting cast, except for Dato Bakhtadze, who played an awesome character named Mr. Sergei, was completely useless except for one surprising scene of self-sacrifice. Mr. Sergei was so awesome that he made a laser gun using plumbing supplies!
The special effects weren’t anything to write home about. “Skyline,” as crummy as that movie was, at least had amazing special effects, and was so ridiculous that on some levels it was entertaining. In this film the aliens were (mostly) invisible, which undoubtedly saved money in the budget, but the suspense this should have added to the film was downplayed by the stupidity of the story. They never give you a chance to be in suspense because the music cues you to be prepared for every single thing that happens.
On top of that you can tell based on what the characters do and say exactly what will happen. The movie is so predictable that you know from the introduction of each character who will and will not survive. They tried to make the movie smart, and included talk about waves and electricity, but anyone with a high-school education knows that it’s completely absurd, and beyond the realm of forgiveness for the sake of entertainment. It would be like me making a movie and telling you that water is now poisonous to humans, because I said so. Can you accept that?
I whole-heartedly wanted this film to be good. I have been looking forward to it since the beginning of the year when I first saw a trailer for it. The release date was changed to Christmas Day (and some of the stiffest competition of the year), and I didn’t understand why until now. It was originally set to release around the same time as “Battle L.A.,” but obviously you can’t release this stinker around the same time as something people actually tried to make decent. So they are releasing it when they have no other competition from the sci-fi/horror genre. Bravo to that, but your film still sucks. Poor story, acting, character development, music, and unimpressive CGI make me wish every alien flick could be as great as “Attack the Block.”
“The Darkest Hour” is the kind of cheap knock-off film I would expect sci-fi and Roger Corman to produce. Because Mr. Sergei was awesome, Rachael Taylor has a sexy accent, and there was a surprising scene of self-sacrifice I would give this film one star. I will never watch this movie again, and may the movie Gods have mercy on its earnings.
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JudyL
said:
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... This review is right on the money, Dan!!! Gomenzalez1000,my little voice said " run for the hills". And that is precisely what I did less than 1/2 way through this astoundingly pathetic excuse for a movie. |
myklz
said:
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... Also saw this movie last week. Thought that the 3D would make it fun to watch with the special effects. No, you could hadly tell it was in 3D. I agree that this movie should have been a made for TV on the Sci-Fi channel!! |
dfox212
said:
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... Ya..when the audience claps during a movie-its already disturbing and I agree with susan. Y would u clap when the aliens start killing the main characters..I didnt get that. The aliens should have been more 3d in your face and not so far away. The ending was bad..it was like the movie "Independence Day." |
sunny1way
said:
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... Finally, a review I can agree with. This movie DID seem like a Sci-Fi original and should have been left on TV. |
susaninflorida
said:
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... At my screening the audience clapped as the aliens killed off any of the main characters. |
Gomenzalez1000
said:
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... I was ready to walk out of this shitfest about 1/4 of the way in but somewhere deep deep deep down inside a little voice told me to "tough it out, it may get better". Fuck that little voice inside. This awful piece of filmmaking garbage is an insult to Emile's talent and is a solid contender for worst film of the year, right up there with Colombiana. |
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